Bright Continent

"e;For anyone who wants to understand how the African economy really works, The Bright Continent is a good place to start"e; (Reuters). Dayo Olopade knew from personal experience that Western news reports on conflict, disease, and poverty obscure the true story of modern Africa. And so she crossed sub-Saharan Africa to document how ordinary people deal with their daily challenges. She found what cable news ignores: a continent of ambitious reformers and young social entrepreneurs driven by kanju creativity born of African difficulty. It's a trait found in pioneers like Kenneth Nnebue, who turned cheap VHS tapes into the multimillion-dollar film industry Nollywood. Or Ushahidi, a technology collective that crowdsources citizen activism and disaster relief. A shining counterpoint to conventional wisdom, The Bright Continent rewrites Africa's challenges as opportunities to innovate, and celebrates a history of doing more with less as a powerful model for the rest of the world. "e;[An] upbeat study of development in Africa . . . The book is written more in wonder at African ingenuity than in anger at foreign incomprehension."e; The New Yorker "e;A hopeful narrative about a continent on the rise."e; The New York Times Book Review